My initial predictions were not very optimistic, I expected the movie to suck, just like any sequel\prequel that is directed by another person, or one that doesn't include any of the 'original' actors.
I was wrong. Actually, the movie is pretty consistent with the story and all the elements fit together very well (uhm, if we count out the fact that a girl's name is 'Misha', perhaps it was 'Masha'?).
Acum sunt sigur ca in Moldova exista un al treilea operator de telefonie mobila. Am vazut cu ochii mei echipamentul unuia din access-point'uri ;-)
Puteti vedea si voi tehnologiile de ultima ora daca vizitati parcul Valea Trandafirilor.
P.S. Veverita m-a rugat sa va transmit tuturor salutari!
I decided to write this short story, to give you an idea about who I am.
I always thought it was not of reason to leave personal information on the Internet, as well as any traces that could help someone figure out who I am. It is a network full of bad people (tm), so we should be careful with what we do, what we write, and where we write it.
For many years I've had an obscure Internet presence. As I expected, nothing bad happened to me. But then... what could have happened? If someone found my real name, would that be a big deal? If someone saw my picture, would that make a difference? There are hundreds of people who see me in the street on a daily basis; there are people with whom I interact on the phone, at the market, in public transport - does that make a problem?
I changed my views regarding this policy. I became someone who respects those who sign their work with their real names, instead of hiding behind avatars, nicknames, proxy-servers, and so on. Isn't it cool when you can be yourself?
Another incentive - knowing that others can 'see' them, one thinks twice before writing something on a public board, because they care more about their image (hence they have something to lose if they misbehave). It is really simple - would you enter a store and start shouting at people, calling everyone an asshole? I guess not... then why would you do that on the Internet? Right... because nobody can kick your ass for that.
Most people hide their identities because they are afraid to be criticized... We have to face it, if you can't deal with being criticized on some forum, then how the heck are you going to handle real world (tm) situations - debates at work, projects at school, meeting people in offices?
We should not be afraid to reveal who we are, otherwise we are nobody.
My name is Alex Railean, and I am %now-$var% years old ($var = the title of a book by George Orwell). I live in Chisinau, which is the capital city of Moldova.
Here are some things about me, in no particular order:
- Very friendly and supportive
- Totally not aggressive, unless the circumstances really force me to change my behaviour
- I have a well-developed sense of humour (which is most often set to "not aloud" mode). My jokes can be very cruel sometimes, so it is better if I leave them to myself, and only let the neutral ones out. This means that only a small deal of them make it to the surface, yet many people think I'm one of the funniest persons they've ever met
- I tend to be a lazy fellow, so I try to do things just once, but do them well. For example, I won't have to update my age on this page next year ;-)
- I have a technology-oriented mind, I like to think in charts, mathematical functions, numbers, logical expressions, programming languages, variables and universal constants. If you hear someone say "while tee less than maxint, delta plus plus" outside the context of computers, it could be me.
- I am pretty bad at mathematics
- My tech-friends and colleagues think I am a humanitarian
- My humanitarian friends think I am a cold and rational techie
- I enjoy watching movies and discussing them with my friends. I am especially a fan of movies with non-linear chronology, where the events are not shown in their normal order (ex: Memento, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, The Jacket, etc)
- I play music in my head all the time. Most of the times I can't stop it
- I think the world can be a better place and I always try to make decisions that are better for humanity
- Sometimes I write poems
- I like to express myself in riddles
- I like making photographs, although I am not particularily good at it (at least not yet)
- I speak Russian, Romanian and English (I think that knowing Russian has a huge impact on one's sense of humour), I also know the basics of French and German
- Computers - that's what I study, that's what my job is about, they're the instrument I use in most of my activities... need I write more?
- The colour of my eyes never changes
- If you ask me to write this list again, I am sure that v2.0 will be different from this one... because there is so much more to say? because I don't like doing the same thing twice?
There you go, now you can use this information against me :-)
Purpose of this site
- Keep in touch with my friends. If I write a story here, there is no need to repeat myself in emails over and over (look up "keystroke conservation principle");
- Friends can keep in touch with each other, using this web-site as an intermediate link;
- Collisions between social groups. The site is a way to "unite" individuals who would never interact with each other in real life. Not all my friends are compatible with each other, and sometimes it is interesting to see how different people react to a story;
- Knowledge should be free. Perhaps many ideas are raw, perhaps some are not properly expressed in text, or maybe they have flaws; but still, they can be reviewed and used by other people, therefore the sum of global knowledge is increasing;
- Letters to the future. The site is a repository of thoughts, which I can use later to see how I changed with time, and how certain events influenced me. I think there can be no self-improvement if there is no way to look at "where I've been";
- Harvest statistics for my studies. Sometimes I'm researching various problems, or testing various hypotheses - and the site is an efficient way to collect data to support and extend such projects;
- Meeting new people. From time to time I get comments from unknown people, and that's how new social connections are established. Isn't that great?
I guess there are other reasons too, for example "find my one and only". Does that work online? I don't know :-)
Contact
I love reading emails, as well as responding to them, so feel free to write - gr8dude at BLUEgmx dot net (remove the colour to obtain the actual address);
You can also leave a comment here, but then it will be a public message.
Cheers! and thanks for stopping by to read this.
"Some folks make decisions,
Some folks clean the streets..."
(X-press 2 - Lazy)
Astăzi am efectuat un sondaj-fulger, şi cum am promis respondenţilor, rezultatele le public pe site. Spre deosebire de sondajele pe care le-am făcut înainte, acesta nu va fi colorat, şi nici nu va fi cu desene (de aceea am scris "fulger") :-)
O introducere totuşi ar trebui să fie - scopul sondajului a fost de a determina care sunt salariile pe care le poate primi (sau le primeste) un student de rînd, astfel încît sa putem înţelege:
- dacă ofertele de muncă pe care le primim sunt bune sau nu
- dacă serviciul şi salariul curent sunt bune sau nu
- dacă există perspectiva unei vieţi zmeurii pe tărîmul moldav
De multe ori am auzit cum profesorii universitari spun că îndată după absolvire vom avea salarii de X unităţi, şi că stelele ne vor zîmbi. În acele momente, în gînd îmi spun "yeah right, if you manage to get a job after you graduate, you're lucky. If you get a job in the field which you've studied - you're more than just lucky. If you get a nice paycheck for what you do... then something must be wrong" :-)
Sau poate profii care ne spun aceste lucruri au în vedere că X este suma salariilor pe care le primim în acele Y locuri de muncă, lucrând 28 ore pe zi (celelalte 4 ore le primim "for free" atunci cînd la sfîrşit de zi ne deplasăm într-o regiune geografica cu un alt fus orar) ;-)
Deci un cal înhămat la Y pluguri simultan care lucrează 28/7 primeşte X unităţi de valută (de obicei X=500, acesta însă variază de la prof la prof, de la facultate la facultate, de la an la an).
Nu am reuşit sa analizez detaliat informaţia obţinută, de aceea o prezint aici in format RAW (cu mici prelucrări), şi fiecare va face concluziile sale.
- În tabelă am scris valorile finale, i.e. ceea ce ajunge în mîinile userului după taxe;
- Cu (!md) sunt marcate persoanele care nu sunt în Moldova;
- Nu sunt arătate exact vârstele. About to graduate = oameni în situaţia mea = 22 ani (respectiv, vă pricepeţi cine sunt mai tineri, mai nu_tineri);
Poţi găsi multe lucruri interesante dacă experimentezi cu cartele SIM din telefoane mobile. Acestea au un procesor, un sistem de operare integrat, un sistem de fişiere (file system) cu restricţii de acces (ceva asemănător cu ACL'urile în NTFS sau în alte sisteme). Datele din SIM card se stochează în diferite fişiere; fiecare fişier are o anumită destinaţie, spre exemplu - unul stochează arhiva SMS, altul - cartea de telefoane, etc. Standardul GSM descrie în detalii rolul fiecărui fişier de pe cartelă, şi modul în care se interpretează conţinutul acestuia.
La examinarea unei cartele a unui operator din Transnistria, s-a descoperit că în 0x6F7B stau ID'urile operatorilor Voxtel şi Moldcell.
Ce înseamnă 0x6F7B? Acesta este fişierul FPLMN - Forbidden PLMN - Forbidden Public Land Mobile Network.
I was surprised to see that some people got on this site by searching 'how to get over a relationship' in Google, and found simple relationship mathematics.
There is another concept that has to be introduced to the world of social relationships - emotional escape velocity. Once again, we borrow something from physics and happily apply it to our emotional life.
What is escape velocity? In simple words, the escape velocity is the minimum speed an object needs to reach, in order to be able to move away from the gravity of something that attracts it.
It's been a while since I promised myself I would describe the image labeling tool that my colleagues and I have developed about a month ago. Several people asked, it's better to describe it once rather than repeat myself every time one's curiosity finds its way out to the surface. It all started when I came across Google Image Labeler.
I quickly became attracted by the idea, but my background in psychology convinced me that their tool can be further extended, increasing the "entertainment factor", as well as the utility of the whole thing. The general idea is to collect a lot of statistics about the images and the users, and then look for patterns, trends and other things that can be later converted into money :-) (but it's not about money)
I definitely recommend it, you should watch it. It covers some interesting ideas about the (ir)reversibility of our actions, free will, time, cause and effect, etc.
It has something in common with 'Minority Report', it also shares some elements with the story 'The end of eternity' (by Asimov).
I also have to add that (if I ignore the technical aspects :-), this is one of the few movies where they haven't screwed things up illustrating things that are not natural to our world, or things that are not synchronized with other scenes in the movie.
A must see. I insist.
Enjoy!
UTM, dragostea mea. In curind nu voi mai fi acolo, si deja ma apuca nostalgia. De fapt, am inceput sa observ asta inca anul trecut, c'est la vie. Oamenii se ataseaza nu doar de alti oameni. Oricum, iata ce am gasit in unul din laboratoare :-)
Se vede ca a fost zimbit si de lectiile de limba romana, dar macar stie ca undeva acolo trebuie sa fie o cratima ;-)